HISTORY. 69 



dipping vat is made exactly on the model of a sheep-dipping vat. 

 It is about 75 feet long and the cattle are put through very 

 rapidly and without loss. The lime and sulphur dip is used, to 

 which a quantity of crude petroleum is added. This certainly 

 destroys the ticks if any exist and for a time keeps off the flies. 

 As to the ultimate benefit, as they are put back on supposedly in- 

 fected pastures, I think it a matter of experiment. It costs about 

 five cents to dip a steer. It makes a few orphan calves, that is 

 the worst of the practice. About 3,000 can be dipped in a day 

 at one of these plants. The getting of the cattle to the dipping 

 vat is the main part of the work. As a matter of dipping, this 

 is entirely successful. None of the loss or difficulty that the Gov- 

 ernment dipping experiments reported are encountered here. And 

 I have no doubt that the dipping removes the ticks. 



Winter feeding is carried on here in an immense way. There 

 is quite an elaborate plan of procedure. In order to understand 

 it you must consider two propositions: one that the hay has in 

 it more or less of "foxtail" grass, which has on it disagreeable 

 barbs, and that it is desired to mix with the hay a very small 

 amount of grain. The problem is to get rid of the danger of the 

 foxtail, and to mix four pounds of ground barley with some 30 

 pounds of alfalfa hay and make a ration for a steer. All the hay 

 is cut through great Ross cutters, then it is put on the floor of 

 the great feeding barn and wet down. This barn holds no cattle. 

 Then the ground grain is mixed with it. It stands for about 

 forty-eight hours, until it becomes soft and slightly fermented, 

 then it is taken out and fed. It is in the same condition as 

 alfalfa silage. The cattle thrive better on 34 pounds a day of 

 this ration than on 50 pounds of uncut alfalfa fed out of doors 

 on the ground. That is what these men believe, and who will 

 argue against so much experience? But the amount of labor in- 

 volved would stagger an ordinary mind. Imagine handling 12,000 

 tons of alfalfa in this way, as Mr. Schmitz must do on his own 

 farm. The amount of grain fed in proportion to hay is very 

 small, it would seem. Yet the hay is of prime quality; it is as 

 rich as hay can possibly be. 



The method of making hay on this ranch is interesting. It is 

 cut and raked with ordinary tools. It is then caught up by 

 large buck rakes on wheels that carry about 700 pounds to the 

 stack. It is lifted by a great sling, and swung over the rick by 

 a sort of crane. Or it is loaded on wagons and hauled farther and 

 lifted by a Stockton fork. These forks are 5, 6 or 7 feet long; 

 they take up enormous loads and are distinctly better than the 

 harpoon or grapple forks used East. I mean to have one on our 

 own ranch and one in Ohio. The ricks are not left sharp, and 



